The Fritz-Haber-Institut (FHI) in Berlin-Dahlem is one of the most renowned institutes within the Max Planck Society (MPG), Germany's organization for basic research. At the FHI, scientists from all over the world are engaged in fundamental studies in the field of chemical physics at interfaces and surfaces, catalysis research and molecular physics.

The Structural & Electronic Surface Dynamics group at the Fritz Haber Institute is offering a

Student assistant position: Development of a metadata standard for materials spectroscopy data

The Structural & Electronic Surface Dynamics group at the Fritz Haber Institute (https://pc.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/sesd/) is offering a student assistant position at the intersection between data science and materials science. The group investigates the electronic and atomic structure of solids and heterostructures with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). We are also among the groups leading the community of experimental solid-state physicists to adopt the concept of findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) data. The development of a metadata standard is a core component in the infrastructure, which will improve the transparency of the scientific process through code and data sharing as well as building advanced predictive models to accelerate scientific discovery by machine learning and artificial intelligence. The approach paves the way for big-data-driven materials science, in particular to materials spectroscopy data. We are part of the BIGmax network and the FAIRmat project and are currently developing an online platform for the ARPES community to achieve FAIRness. The Fritz Haber Institute and the Department of Physical Chemistry offer an excellent and interdisciplinary environment for top-of-the-line research.

Topics of the research:

Your task is to develop a metadata standard and representation for the data generated in ARPES and related experiments. The outcome will be integrated into our existing platform and used to create a machine-readable online archive to be used for developing data-driven approaches to understanding band structure data (see a demo entry).

The project aims to reach a broad community of photoemission scientists through a unifying metadata standard based on the HDF5/NeXus data structure. The metadata standard and its demo use cases will be featured on a website currently under construction, and the student assistant will be actively involved in curating the website and the community discussion. The assistant will also play a role in developing the relevant APIs and visualization methods for interacting with multidimensional ARPES data, with the support of scientists and data scientists in the group and the department at FHI.

The position is initially limited to a 6 months part-time (60 h/month) contract, which may be extended upon review of the project status. The hourly wage is EUR 11.85 for undergraduate students and EUR 13.77 for students holding a bachelor's degree.

Your profile:

The applicant should have attended or be enrolled in a university-level course in Computer science, Physics, Mathematics or closely related fields. Candidates with a strong background in at least one of the following areas are preferred:

• Python coding
• Handling of large datasets
• Knowledge of databases or experience in web development

Your application should include:

• Short description of your research interest and motivation
• CV including a description of relevant previous experiences or coursework
• Contact detail of an academic reference

Applications for this position are only accepted via our online application portal. Closing date: Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those individuals selected for an interview will be contacted.

For more information please contact:
Dr. Ralph Ernstorfer and Dr. Tommaso Pincelli, Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Department of Physical Chemistry, 14195 Berlin, Germany, email: ernstorfer@fhi-berlin.mpg.de and pincelli@fhi-berlin.mpg.de.